NGSS (K-2); BFSU Lessons Addressing Each

[Bernard NebelKeymaster]

NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) are the current widely accepted and promoted national science standards. But standards of any sort have fatal flaw.
Designing lessons aimed at achieving specific standards invariably leads to a curriculum that is choppy, disjointed, and inevitably has gaps. Therefore, BFSU lessons and overall curriculum was/is not built according to specific NGSS or other standards.

Rather, the BFSU curriculum was conceived and constructed from the point of view of young children perceiving and experiencing the world about them and and guiding them, step by step, to make logical, rational, thoughtful, scientific, and most of all, integrated sense of it all.

In the following Matrix 1 and also Matrix 2 note how achievement of NGSS or other science standards are a natural fallout of this process.

MATRIX 1
The NGSS standard is identified and given first, followed by the BFSU lesson(s) that address that standard.

Physical Science

K-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
BFSU: Evidence for these effects will be conspicuous from everyday play and performing tasks. Lessons C-1, C-3, and C-3A will lead students to see them in the context of energy and forces. Planning and conducting investigation can readily follow.

K-PS2-2. Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.
BFSU: Concepts of energy and force provided in Lessons C-1, C-3, and C-3A provide students with the basic concepts they need for accomplishing this.

K-PS3-1. Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface.
BFSU: Lesson C-1 calls students to make this observation and much more.

K-PS3-2. Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.
BFSU: Lessons A-8 and C-1 provide students with the basic concepts they need to achieve this standard.

1-PS4-1. Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
BFSU: Lesson C-2 will fully prepare student for achieving this standard and guide them in understanding additional parameters of sound.

1-PS4-2. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects can be seen only when illuminated.
BFSU: Making such observations and much more is included within Lesson C-1.

1-PS4-3. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.
BFSU: Lesson C-1 provides students with the wherewithal they need to achieve this standard.

1-PS4-4. Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.
BFSU: Lessons C-1 and C-2 provide the basic ideas and information that students will need to accomplish this.

2-PS1-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
BFSU: Lessons A-5 and A-5A will more than adequately prepare students for meeting this standard.

2-PS1-2. Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
BFSU: Lessons A-5 and A-5A will more than adequately prepare students for meeting this standard.

2-PS1-3. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.
BFSU: Experience with any sort of building blocks or construction set gives students experiential familiarity with this concept. Lesson A-2 guides students to see how this concept relates to all states of matter.

2-PS1-4. Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
BFSU: Lesson A-2 will provide students with the experience they need to construct such an argument.

Life Science

K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
BFSU: Lesson B-3 guides students to observe how plants and animals are distinguished from each other by how they obtain energy and nutrients. This will prepare them for meeting this standard and much more.

1-LS1-1. Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
BFSU: Lesson B-3 combined with Lessons B-5 and B-5A will more than adequately prepare student for meeting this standard.

1-LS1-2. Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.
BFSU: Every lesson in BFSU includes suggested readings that correlate with and reinforce and/or expand on the ideas presented in the lesson. The specific topic of this standard is addressed in Lessons B-4, B-5, and B-5A.

1-LS3-1. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
BFSU: Observations made in pursuit of Lessons B-4, B-4A, and B-4B will include this standard.

2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

BFSU: Students’ ability to meet this standard may be achieved within the context of Lessons B-3 and/or B-11 and B-12.

2-LS2-2. Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

BFSU: Lesson B-5A provides the context for students to meet this standard.

2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

BFSU: Lesson B-4A includes having students make such observations.

Earth and Space Science

K-ESS2-1. Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.
BFSU: Lesson D-6 will actively involve students in this practice.

K-ESS2-2. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.
BFSU: Observations made in Lesson B-5A will give students the experiential knowledge they need to achieve this standard.

K-ESS3-1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals (including humans) and the places they live.
BFSU: Lessons B-4A, B-5, and B-5A engage students in making observations that will provide experiential knowledge necessary for achieving this standard.

K-ESS3-2. Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather.
BFSU: Everyday life experience will engage students in such activities. More specific knowledge and understanding will be gained through Lesson D-6.

K-ESS3-3. Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.
BFSU: Through early lessons in the B and D learning progressions, impacts will become evident and communicating solutions will come forth.

1-ESS1-1. Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.
BFSU: Activities of Lesson D-2 and extended in D-5 will prepare students for this standard.

1-ESS1-2. Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.
BFSU: Lesson D-6 includes having students make this and other pertinent observations concerning the change of seasons.

2-ESS1-1. Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.
BFSU: Students’ accomplishment of this standard will derive from Lesson D-6 and D-8, as well as from life experience and later lessons.

2-ESS2-1. Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.
BFSU: Students’ ability to meet this standard will derive from Lesson D-6, D-8, and various other BFSU Lessons.

2-ESS2-2. Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area.
BFSU: Lessons D-3 and D-3A introduce students to the skills of map reading and map drawing. These skills will prepare students for meeting this standard.

2-ESS2-3. Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.
BFSU: Meeting this standard will be one of the outcomes of Lessons D-3, D-3A, and D-4. The essence of the water cycle is addressed in Lesson A-8.

Engineering and Technology

K-2-ETS1-1. Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
BFSU: The teaching methodology advocated throughout BFSU draws students to make observations, ask questions, and consider answers. Thus, meeting this standard may grow out of many areas of the BFSU curriculum.

K-2-ETS1-2. Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
BFSU: Relating structure and function will be found in many lessons of the BFSU curriculum. Ability to meet this standard will be a natural outcome.

K-2-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.
BFSU: Collecting, comparing, and interpreting data from various tests will be found in a number of BFSU lessons. The ability to achieve this standard will grow out of that such experience.

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